A slide has leaked that shows the LG Optimus G Pro smartphone, the follow-up to the Optimus G. The Optimus G Pro’s headliner feature is a new five-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

A 1.7 GHz processor said to be the Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 powers the device. The smartphone is also said to feature 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, LTE connectivity, 13MP rear camera, and a 3000 mAh battery. Other specifications that have leaked around the web claim that the smartphone will run Android Jelly Bean for the operating system and weigh in at about 160 g.

The phone features both One-Seg and NOTTV functionality that only works in Japan. We’ll no doubt see the Optimus G Pro on our shores sometimes this year, although without the TV functionality.

Other companies see how millions have flocked to Apples phone regardless of not having the features you noted. I think part of the thought process is...if apple can make billions without providing these specific features...then the collective will gladly purchase others phones without this being an issue. Designing a replaceable battery and adding MicroSD does add costs to the product and if these companies wish to make the profits Apple is....then they will follow suit......to a fault IMO.

I think also, the idea is that most consumers will not hold on to the phone long enough to need to replace the battery and cloud storage negates the needed for massive phone storage.

It really sucks that Apple has created such a controlling/restrictive ecosystem and yet millions have flocked to drink the cool-aid. Anyone looking from the outside in, see's exactly what it is.

Creating a phone with a removable battery and SD card reader is a design challenge when there has been such a push to create the thinnest, lightest device possible. The number of users actively swapping out microSD cards or batteries is negligible. Almost all users stick in a microSD card and never remove it. In the same vein, users don't walk around with pockets full of extra batteries either.

By companies cutting the removable battery, it allows for a larger battery to be squeezed in the same space, which imho makes much more logical sense.

Samsung does it with the paper thin backs and they are just as thin as those with a non-removable battery. It about options, even if you only need to do it once or twice over the life of the device.

Personally, I don't remove the battery often but it's nice to know I can replace it as-needed. I've had all manner of device batteries lose capacity or go bad over the years. Just getting another battery and throwing it in without having to ship the entire unit, worry about wiping data, etc. is worth something to many people.

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA